AN: I am skipping some in game cut-scenes such as Junpei's intro.
I also apologize for this chapter being late; I've been busy writing for other projects as of late.
I might skip Minato being in clubs...Convince me otherwise.
Mitsuru had taken time out of her day to talk to the newest members of the team at school. It caused some commotion but nothing substantial.
Confused, they pondered all day what she could have meant. They were anxious or eager that she had to come in person during school hours to tell them.
The trio decided to go home together that day.
Arriving at the dorm, he saw everyone else in the waiting area.
The guy who long wavy hair who came to his house.
Akihiko.
Mitsuru.
They were on the couch. Minato and his classmates took the individual chairs.
"Alright, let's begin please." The chairman declared.
Everyone turned to him.
"Prior to the rest of you joining, we only had Mitsuru and Akihiko as persona users and myself as mission control."
Minato raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"There is also the person that the red room next to Akihiko's room belongs to right?" Minato asked, looking bored and keeping his hand up.
Akihiko winced and Mitsuru folded her arms tightly.
"...There was, but he quit." Akihiko said, looking somewhat saddened.
"Tonight we are going to explore Tartarus." Mitsuru said before the thought could linger.
"I asked this yesterday but for Minato's sake, whats Tartarus?" Junpei asked looking impressed with himself.
"Oh yeah...you haven't seen it. Its a place that only appears during the dark hour." Yukari informed him.
"Think of it as the Shadow's nest." Akiihiko said with an eager grin.
Minato stared intently at Akihiko and frowned.
"Our second point of order." The chairman said dramatically.
"Appointing. A. Leader." He punctuated.
Junpei's eyes shone, "Right here."
Minato sighed, "You lack experience."
Junpei glared back, "You have some?"
Minato got up and asked Mitsuru for her evoker. She complied and he put it to his head, shocking Junpei.
"He can summon two personas. Despite Mitsuru and I fighting the shadows for at least 2 years, we only have one each." Akihiko said with a slight edge in his voice.
Junpei looked in disbelief but tried his best to shrug it off. His look of surprise and envy was all that Mitsuru could read.
"Why him though? Why not Mitsuru?"
"I will be on mission control, we need a field leader and I leave it to him."
There was a definite silence.
"Sweet." Minato said, looking bored.
With the exception of Mitsuru, who rode on her motorbike, the others walked the empty streets.
"So her bike is special?"
"Yeah, its made of-"
"You know..." Junpei started as he looked at the blood pool and a small coffin in the middle of it.
"There's one benefit to all this. If you do have a persona, there's a chance to fight back fairly against an intruder."
Akihiko looked really uncomfortable at this suggestion. The others just kept walking, slightly unnerved by the Dark Hour.
After walking for 8 minutes they had reached the school, where Mitsuru was waiting. In front of the gate, they waited as Akihiko had looked at a watch of his and counted down.
Minato and Junpei had seen it transform. The school seemed to have shifted, as though it were a mirage. It then started to shake erratically. It turned into a swirling spiral with a green glow before morphing into a tower with a spiral stair case. It loomed into the skies, making the group unable to see the rooftop.
Junpei's eyes were quite wide when he said, "I always knew school was evil."
Inside the tower, Mitsuru had gotten off her bike and greeted the others formally.
Akihiko was the last to enter and look upward.
"Finally. I've been waiting for this," he told himself.
Yukari and Junpei commentated that it looked like a castle or a ballroom.
Minato on the other hand was not as distracted.
"As leader, I can do as I please right?" He raised his hand, while asking.
Mitsuru was hesitant to agree but nodded slowly.
"We're taking Akihiko in." He said arms folded.
Mitsuru was taken back, in shock.
"He has an injured arm!" She said alarmed.
"Guys like him, are like wild animals. Even if you cage him, it will do nothing to stop him. If anything, he can summon lightning."
Mitsuru bit her lip. A tense worry being visible on her face.
Minato stared with cold indifference.
"This is on you." She said pushing her index fingers into his chest, after a minute of silence.
He nodded.
Mitsuru told the others of Minato's decision while he looked around.
He looked around and was curious why no one was mentioning the glowing door.
He walked towards it and pushed it open. A light englufed his vision and he had to shield his eyes.
He slowly saw an image of the Velvet room come into view, he felt the room rising under his feet. The rest of the room manifested in front of him, as though the two waiting for him had always been there.
"Welcome back; dear guest." Igor greeted.
Minato stood in front of the chair but didn't sit down.
"What is this...room exactly?" He said looking around.
"A manifestation of both you consciousness and unconsciousness, a place to access your personas, social links and to relax in."
"So this room is for organization."
"In battle, you will find cards that shadows drop. Those cards are personas which you can use in battle."
"How do social links work?" He asked hastily.
"You have already accessed one of them by joining the team. With the choices you make, your bonds will either break or grow stronger."
"If you guys know whats go on, why not do something about it?" Minato asked.
"We are bound by our own contract with our master to no interfere with the human world." Elizabeth said.
"Someone above even you two..." He said slowly, a hand pushing hair out of his vision.
Igor waved his hand.
Minato had been surprised, he was back in the lobby of Tartarus, staring at the swirling checkerboard floor.
Yukari had poked his shoulder, with mild concern.
"We're ready to go."
They ascended the steps and saw infinite darkness awaiting them. The only discernible thing lay the outstretched tiled floor.
"There are different types of shadows that we have observed." Akihiko informed the others while walking. He stopped at a hallway and looked around the corner. He motioned with his good arm for the others to follow.
They, Junpei and Minato stopped when they heard static.
"This is Mitsuru, come in." Minato could feel the voice echo in his head. He was not sure if Mitsuru was psychic or a magician but the clarity of her voice was soothing in the darkness.
"Hey Mitsuru, Akihiko here, I'm giving them the low down on shadows." He said aloud.
"Acknowledged." The static abruptly ended.
They began walking again.
"Some have weaknesses. Some can only be hurt with physical attacks from our swords, bows or fists. Some others can be hurt with just magic. Despite their differences, always pay attention to the location of the mask; that is their weakness."
Feeling a chill, Minato slowly looked down to find that a mask was staring at him, and ichor was surrounding his leg.
"Dammit, must have just been waiting to spawn under you." Akihiko growled while taking the gun of his holster.
Minato began to shake his leg, sweat forming on his face.
"CALM DOWN AND AIM FOR THE MASK." Akihiko told him.
Yukari put the evoker to her head prompting Junpei to do the same.
Minato saw it move around like water and sliced at where he thought the mask would be. He guessed correctly and saw it dissolved slowly loosening its grip on his leg.
"Unnerving when they get close right?" Akihiko taunted.
Minato just nodded sweating a little bit.
Yukari and Junpei both sighed.
They continued walking straight before turning right.
Three shadows emerged and their first battle was an eye opener; in that cramped hall way.
Junpei wielded his sword like a baseball bat.
Yukari was afraid to user her Persona and almost hit the others with her arrows a few times.
Akihiko kept fidgeting in place, as though he were going to run up to the shadow and punch the blobs on instinct- but remembered that he was just there to summon.
Minato was the only one to really be on focus but even then, whenever he summoned Orpheus, he felt that rush, that his mind became empty and the only thing to pull him back to reality had been a fireball that was burning a shadow or a yell from one of his team mates.
It wasn't until the fourth battle that he had noticed something was off about the others; Junpei was struggling to move with his sword in one hand and Akihiko was walking slower than usual.
"You alright?" Minato asked.
"Summoning your persona takes courage. To use it in battle however drains you mentally. We need to leave now." He ordered.
"How do we get-"
Rounding a corner they saw some stairs and a glowing device. On cue, Mitsuru's voice came into their minds.
"Mitsuru here. If you take this glowing lift, it brings you back the lobby Tartarus, I see one in front of me so they should connect."
"She can see us as well?" Junpei asked, slowly buttoning his shirt, feeling slightly embarrassed.
"Only during the dark hour; if she can concentrate and if we're nearby." Yukari said.
They stood in front of the lift.
"Grab on."
The group touched the glowing elevator and returned to the lobby.
Seeing Mitsuru had been a relief. She had used her own persona to help refresh the others mentally and accessed their mental conditions. She had been concerned with Akihiko most of all and asked him basic questions such as if he was fine or not.
Minato watched intently as they argued like a married couple and saw that Junpei was trying to comfort Yukari.
"Yo...I don't know if you noticed but I saw that you didn't summon your persona much?" He asked trying to be coy.
"...Uh yeah. After what I saw on the roof-top that night, I thought that it was possible that if we could use other personas that our initial one may get hurt and that it would well...hurt."
Junpei looked slightly confused but saw her eyes focus Minato while she talked. He had now been given a brief lecture by Mitsuru about not acting as a reckless leader.
"What the hell happened?" He asked himself, taking off his cap to rub at his forehead.
Bonus for making you guys wait for this chapter.
The next day, the others felt slightly better with sleep. The school day had been longer then the trip to Tartarus and they had just heard the bell to leave school
The girls around Akihiko had flocked between him and Minato. One girl had grabbed Minato and he looked like a ragdoll in her grip.
Junpei was waiting under a tree for the other two and noticed the group they had accumulated.
"Hey ladies." He said with a sunny smile.
Taking a quick glance at Junpei who had grinned and was putting his chest out with a straight posture, they looked apathetic.
"Who are you?" One girl sneered.
